I Know Why the Caged Bird Kills
"I Know Why the Caged Bird Kills" is the tenth episode in the second season of The Venture Bros. Plot The Monarch makes a bloody raid on what he thinks is a secret Venture compound only to find out that he has nearly destroyed his accountant's building instead. Before leaving, however, he has his henchmen take numerous office supplies. As Dr. Orpheus pets his cat Simba, he is interrupted by an angry Dr. Venture, who complains of an Oni hanging above his head after a recent trip to Japan-he is relieved to know that Dr. Orpheus can also see the Oni. Orpheus's initial attempts to exorcise the demon fail, the oni angrily pulls Venture about Orpheus's den to his surprise. After a quick visit to the underworld to check with his master for advice (who is now a horse and readying himself to re-enact the supposed bestiality incident of Catherine the Great with his multi-faced assistant, Ms. Manyface) Dr. Orpheus tells Venture that the two are bonded and that perhaps he has a certain unfinished business to make up for. Meanwhile, Hank and Dean are practicing their driving by the compound's hangar, running over all the safety cones, only to find another broken-down car and a mysterious woman apparently knocked out nearby. When the boys get close to her, she suddenly gasses them both and knocks them out. The Monarch has in the meantime gotten a new "number two", Dr. Henry Killinger, who has begun to implement new reforms into the Cocoon and attempt to turn around their spectacular failures. He most notably has a 'magic murder bag' containing various unknown items and 'black guards', former henchmen who are now given much more scary uniforms and weaponry and seemingly better training. Both #s 21 and 24 begin to feel that Killinger is a fraud and doesn't respect the rules of supervillainy, but when #24 denounces Killinger's policies he merely requests to have some time alone with #24 rather than listen to the Monarch's angry orders of torture. Doctors Orpheus and Venture eventually find the Oni dragging them both to a Venture Industries car, Brock mockingly shrugs them both off as he goes off to find the boys from their driving lesson. Dr. Venture quickly tricks the oni into the trunk, but it controls the car and begins driving it, pulling Venture along on the ground. Orpheus, however, takes it as a sign that the demon wishes to have them get in the car and begin traveling. Brock drives with H.E.L.P.eR., and they debate the merits of Led Zeppelin (who H.E.L.P.eR. dismisses as "jock rock") as they follow the boys' wristband signals, but Brock eventually finds both of them in a dumpster (although promising to resume the debate later). Tossing away the debris, he finds the watches tied to an explosive with the message THE BOYS...ARE MINE... flashing across both and begins to realize who took them. Just before the dumpster explodes, Brock notes that "Myra's back." but Brock is saved by H.E.L.P.eR. in the nick of time, and the two begin flying off. The boys wake up in a crummy motel in the desert and wake up to see a crazed-looking, leather-clad and well-built woman begin muttering about them. She reveals that she is their mother: graduating fresh out of the Office of Secret Intelligence, she was assigned to protect Dr. Venture and began to fall for him, beginning to aggressively flirt with him and after saving his life once during the showing of a new invention having sex with him in the car. Eventually, however, she grew too clingy and addled for his liking and was sent away. Enraged for being abandoned by him, she is also angry that he erased all memories of her from the boys and that they don't even remember their proper age (though she is apparently unaware of the boys' repeated cloning as the source of their age discrepancy). She plots to take them both away from their lives at Venture Industries and be a happy family together. Doctors Orpheus and Venture have meanwhile taken up in the same motel unwittingly, due to the Oni's finally ending its travel there, and after an accusation that Orpheus is gay and wishes to bed Dr. Venture the two make up and decide to rent a porno to pass the time. Meanwhile, the boys' mother is worried that they are not being fed properly and pushes her breasts to their (traumatized) faces. Number 21 manages to convince the Black Guards to let him through to see #24 in his prison cell, who is happily reading porno and tells #21 that Killinger is actually a great guy. #21 swears he'll not fall for the tricks and soon uses mockups of Spider-Man's web-shooters to attempt to take the Magic Mystery Bag, only to be taken away by #24 in the new Black Guard outfit, but he manages to escape. He eventually recruits Dr. Girlfriend to help him infiltrate the Cocoon-she deftly gets through the laser alarm systems (which she installed) with able gymnastics, but #21's girth and lack of flexibility means tripping the first one and alerting Black Guards. Dr. Girlfriend easily takes them out and gets to the lair, where Monarch and Killinger are discussing things. He quickly calms the two down and hands to Girlfriend from his Bag the Monarch's journal, which contains feelings he wrote down for her on every page, and hands Monarch some flowers to hand to Girlfriend. Taking his bag and umbrella, he begins to fly out and tells the duo to have hope for the future...only to get caught in the Cocoon's ceiling. The doctors are woken up by the oni (still in the car trunk) ramming the car against the wall of their room, and Orpheus goes to the check-out counter. The motel attendant turns out to be Myra, who, upon noticing Dr. Venture in the car outside, proceeds to beat Dr. Orpehus senseless. With Rusty blissfully listening to the radio and unable to hear Dr. Orpheus's cries for help, she quickly grabs the boys and gets into the car with him, ready to drive off with them all. At that point Brock and H.E.L.P.eR. come in, and she angrily and quickly runs him over. Brock quickly gets up and simply stands up so that the woman may see him in the rearview mirror. Turning around and readying herself to down him for good, Brock calmly positions himself so that with a quick leap back he smashes into the front seat of the car and assumes control of the car. Brock and Venture tell the kids that the woman is Myra Brandish, formerly Powerkat on American Gladiators, who was put into an insane asylum once the show was ended where she became obsessed with Dr. Venture. When Dean questions why they don't remember her Brock nearly mumbles they wouldn't due to their being clones (quickly trailing off with Thaddeus before the word is fully said). When the boys keep asking questions, Dr. Venture finally admits that the two had sex ("OK...So I f*cked Her! What Of It!?") . The oni meanwhile escapes from the trunk to Killinger, who is flying overhead, he tells the oni that they cannot re-unite all lost loves. Trivia *The title of this episode references the title of Maya Angelou's 1969 autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, which H.E.L.P.eR. apparently quotes (at some length) in the episode itself. *It is revealed in this episode that Hank and Dean were born 19 years ago, although they state that they are only 16 and seem to look that age. This could be because of all the time spent regrowing clones after the twins numerous deaths (in an early episode Hank does point out that his supposed age (as told to him by Dr. Venture) doesn't match the age printed on his ID card, but his father quickly changes the subject). *Dr. Henry Killinger is, of course, based heavily on, (if not implied to be) real-life diplomat Henry Kissinger, with a pinch of Mary Poppins thrown in for good measure. *H.E.L.P.eR.'s weapons system is noted as being offline. This is a reference to his dismemberment in "Victor. Echo. November." *This episode illustrates that Doctor Girlfriend has melee skills comparable to, if not rivalling, those of Brock Samson and Molotov Cocktease. *Based on Dr. Venture's statment at the end of the episode, the boys are unaware that they are clones and that some of their memories have been lost as they were not recorded prior to their restoration. * The round table that The Monarch, Killinger and his henchmen sit at is similar to Dr. Strangelove. Also, #24 and #21's phobia against the foreign Killinger is similar to George C. Scott's phobia against the Soviet ambassidor in the film. * #24 seems to have gotten his car back from the prostitute that stole it in "Fallen Arches", as #21 is seen driving it. *Myra quotes the tagline from the movie The Bodyguard when discussing her relationship with Thaddeus: "Never let him out of your sight. Never let your guard down. Never fall in love." *Myra also quotes the opening verses to the Spandau Ballet song True when talking to the boys about her love for Dr. Venture. * Myra quotes Darth Vader's line from The Empire Strikes Back "Search your feelings; you know it to be true" after the boys deny the claim that she is their mother, mirroring the scene in Empire where Luke denies Vader's claim that he is Luke's father. And #21 makes two references to A New Hope. First when he tells Dr. Girlfriend that she is their only hope. Second when he quotes C-3PO in saying "Thank the maker" after releasing flatulence. * In the flashback when Myra is fighting the Monarch he is wearing a uniform different from the one he had on in "The Terrible Secret of Turtle Bay" (That costume had the crown "melded" into the costume, this earlier one instead of having a crown having a giant mock Monarch Butterfly for a mask) This reveals his current uniform is in at least its third incarnation. * The Black Guards bear a striking resemblance to "G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero"-era Cobra Commander. * #21 yells "semper fidelis tyrannosaurus" when he tries to kill Dr. Killinger. Semper fidelis is Latin for "ever faithful" and is the motto of the United States Marine Corps as well as many other organizations. Sic semper tyrannis is Latin for "thus always to tyrants" and is a phrase John Wilkes Booth supposedly said just after shooting President Abraham Lincoln * If Myra is indeed the boys' biological mother, her tendency towards insanity might explain some of Hank's wild, nonsensical theories and ideas (as Brock puts it in "The Trial of the Monarch", "It's like he channels dead crazy people!"). Thus, Hank takes after their mother, as Dean seems to take after their father ("Hate Floats"). Category:The Venture Bros. episodes